


With Benefits

by Lazy8



Series: Forging Connections [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Casual Sex, F/M, Friends With Benefits, Implied Sexual Content, Masturbation, Post-Canon, Republic City
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-20
Updated: 2015-03-20
Packaged: 2018-04-26 11:15:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5002663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lazy8/pseuds/Lazy8
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sokka knows exactly what's gotten him into this funk. What he doesn't know is the way out of it is closer than he thinks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	With Benefits

**Author's Note:**

> Just a note: I'm keeping these to a T rating because that's what I'm comfortable writing.

"You know, I can tell you're lying." The newly-minted police chief crossed her arms over her chest, her sightless eyes seeming to penetrate him far more effectively than if she'd actually been able to see him.

Councilman Sokka's only response was to send a scowl her way that he knew she couldn't see. So _what_ if he hadn't been on anything that could be even remotely called a date for the past three years and counting? So _what_ if he hadn't so much as kissed a girl since a rather messy breakup that had left him alternately wanting to storm the Republic City streets with sword in hand and curl up in a little ball in the nearest available hole? It was none of Toph's business!

"Look," she continued as if reading his mind, "I know this is none of my business—"

No, it really wasn't.

"—but it's impossible _not_ to feel what you've been doing in the bathroom _every single day_ for the last five months—" Sokka choked, "—and it's getting kind of distracting. So do you want to spill, or am I going to have to call your sister up here so you can cry on her? Because I really don't like people crying on me," she added as an afterthought.

Sokka rubbed his forehead. He should have known there was no such thing as privacy anywhere within a city block of Toph—he couldn't even accuse her of spying, since unless she wanted to invest in a wooden office she couldn't exactly help her sensitivity to vibrations. "Look," he said at last, lowering his hand and making a mental note to keep it in his own bathroom from then on, "I'm working off some frustration because I haven't been getting much of the real thing. That's all."

Arms still crossed, she leaned back against the wall and adopted a quizzical expression. "That's exactly what I don't get, Snoozles. Last I heard, you had women _swarming_ you. You're famous. How have you _not_ had a date yet?"

"Aside from the fact that none of them would look at me twice if I weren't friends with the Avatar?" Though he could feel a splitting headache coming on, Sokka pulled the latest stack of papers toward himself; he could not afford to fall behind. "They're not interested in _me_ , Toph. Besides, I don't think I'm ready for another commitment yet. Not after the way the last one ended."

As he spoke, he took up his brush and dipped it into the inkwell. Toph, taking this as the dismissal it was, shrugged and walked out of his office. To his surprise, however, Sokka found that as he lowered the brush to the paper his chest felt considerably lighter.

When he had finally made it through the stack, Sokka pushed back his chair with a yawn and looked up, to find that the hallway was now empty and the last streaks of sunlight were mere smudges on the horizon. He'd worked overtime (again—he seemed to be doing a lot of that lately), he had a cramp in his neck and his stomach was rumbling. Pushing back from the desk, he raised his arms over his head in a wide stretch—and froze.

A woman in metal armor was leaning against the side of his doorframe, arms crossed over her chest, bangs falling into her eyes, and the corner of her mouth upturned in the slightest hint of a smirk.

"I've never been big on sappy outpourings of feelings," Toph began before Sokka could process the situation enough to ask what she was still doing there, "so I'm going to tell it to you straight. I've been wanting to say this since I was twelve years old and you were a nobody, and it had nothing whatsoever to do with Twinkle Toes. I don't do commitments, and I don't do mushy romance—but what I _will_ do, I do well, and I can _guarantee_ it'll be better than whatever you've been up to in the bathroom."

As he realized what she was offering, Sokka felt heat rise to his face—not to mention other parts of him. Even if he had known of her affections during the war, he'd have dismissed them as a child's crush—but Toph definitely wasn't a little girl anymore, and he wasn't a fumbling fifteen-year-old either. Maybe it wouldn't be love, at least not of the romantic variety, but romance wasn't what either of them were looking for at this point in their lives. Still…

"One thing, Toph… we're friends. And I want to _be_ friends no matter what happens between us. If this is going to change that…"

In response, she only snorted. "Please." Though she didn't turn her head, her smirk widened, and he knew that she knew that she had him. "You think something like _this_ is going to come between us after we took down an airship fleet together?"

That was all he needed to hear. In spite of himself, Sokka could feel a matching expression growing on his own face.

"Close. The door."

**Author's Note:**

> My take on the theory that Sokka was Suyin's father.
> 
> Also, I should probably mention that I want critiques on these—please refrain from leaving reviews saying that the chapter is awful because you hate the pairing, but I'm trying to build up some creative muscles by hitting one of my major weak points, so I'd like to know if I've broken character, whether I'm getting the characters together believably, whether I'm handling the necessary breakups well etc.


End file.
